I thought it was, but it is apparently not. DS's were born at 6lbs7oz and 6lbs4ounces. They each dropped weight in the hospital. One of our sons dropped 14 ounces, but he had breathing issues and was on an IV only for more than 48 hours, so he could not nurse or bottle feed.
when we arrived home last week, we had the obligatory ped. visit the next day, to check weights. the dr. seemed nice about it and wants to see us this thursday. Because one of the boys failed the car seat challenge, we have a nurse service coming out to weight check the boys as well. She was here last week, the day after the Dr. visit, and her weights were on target with the Dr. scale. She was here today and DS's only gained 2 and 4 ounces each.
Needless to day, she was stern and said "that is not good". They should be back to birthweight at two weeks old (tomorrow). They still have to gain 12 and 8 ounces to get there. she immediately questioned my hydration and milk supply (I'm drinking 1.5 gallons of water a day!) and my let down is fierce. I'm not pumping much since I am feeding them on demand but they are very sleepy babies and go close to 3hrs. between feeds , and they said I should nurse every two hours.
I am devastated. Now they want us to supplement with formula. The nurse called my ped. today who had their nurse instruct us to give a bottle of 1-2 ounces of formula after each and every nursing session. We tried that this afternnoon and ......DS threw everything up. So , I feel like we are being forced to overfeed them.
I am devastated. I view supplementing as the first step in me quitting nursing, as if nursing twins was not scary/hard enough for me. Why would the boys nurse well, if they learn that a bottle comes right after it. the nurse said I could just do the formula until they are back to birth weight and then quit but won't they lose weight then? then I will get in trouble for that!!!
I got a speech from the visiting nurse today about how important it is to gain early on, so their organs and bodies get off to a good start and it is most critical now. I feel like a horrible mom. I've been crying ever since she left at noon.
How do I nurse two babies, do two bottles and pump? I feel like the supplementing will just kill all hopes of nursing, which is emotional for me to do as it is....
any advice? Did anyone have other instructions on supplementing formula for early weight gain? is it excessive to do bottle after every feed?
sorry for spelling issues, I'm typing through tears now....
6/19 update:
so, I kept meaning to come back and update. we went to the ped. two days after the nurse service told us to supplement, and our ped. had agreed as well. there are several docs in our practice and the one we saw in person, was adament that we could have been supplementing with BF. She told us, that ounce for ounce, they have the same caloric intake (bm and formula). We were livid at that point , that we had been misdirected earlier, and we let her know. But, the news then was also good, because overall, she was happy with the boys' weight gain for that week. We were relieved.
We went back on 6/14 and guess what?????? One of the boys gained 19 ounces in 12 days and the other gained 15 ounces. They were well passed birthweight. We were told to keep doing what we were doing......which is killing me. I am nursing , pumping out what is left and then, if the boys are cranky, supplementing it right away or saving it. Unfortunately, my supply is just enough for the boys and I can't save a ton, which is dissappointing, since I used to oversupply for one baby. I get so tired, that if I skip a pumping, I do use a bit of formula and wish I didn't have to.
That said, I have good days and very bad days. One of the boys has a terrible latch and I can't correct it myself. Often times, my mom is here and hasn't seen a LC help out , so she can't really help me relatch him. I'm debating on just bottle feeding him, since he gets supplemented the most , after a nursing, due to his poor nursing. Add to that, that his reflux is much worse now that he is eating more and waking more. We already had to adjust zantac for both of them and I think it needs to be done yet again. You can see their entire bodies just "constrict" and a bunch of milk just poors out. Poor babies.....and it's tough to see all that milk come out
I have my nursing pillow almost permanently attached to me. I miss my older kids so much. School is out now and I just don't know if I have it in me to go the long run, especially with all of the issues. If I could just pump 5-6 times a day and get enough to bottle feed both all day, I would . But for some reason, I can only get a total of 6 ounces per pump session at the most (yet I'm still nursing all day so I imagine I could get more if I did not nurse). That's less than I used to get with ODC's.
DD told me she is mad because "I am cheating on her with the babies" and I cried. The boys were one month yesteray, and I want to get to two months. After that, depending on how the reflux is, I may call it a day. I hate to type that but , emotionally, as well as physically, I am not handling this well. It's the guilt of stoppping BF that keeps me doing it. If I could stop, and not feeli guilty, I likely would. In the meantime, I keep trying....
thanks for all the encouragement. I could not have made it this far without all of you!